As for the actual trade — Klein to the New York Rangers for Michael Del Zotto on Wednesday afternoon — Poile appears to have won something of his own.

The logic behind it is clear enough: Nashville needed a lefty and wanted a puck mover. New York needed a righty and wanted to get rid of Del Zotto. The end result, though, certainly seems to favor the Preds; Del Zotto, for all his faults, is still just 23 with loads of offensive ability and at least something of a track record. He had 41 points (10G, 31A) in 2011-12 but wound up in new coach Alain Vigneault's doghouse pretty quickly this past fall.

A restricted free agent after the season, Del Zotto immediately balances out Nashville's defense; now it has Shea Weber, Seth Jones and Ryan Ellis on the right, and Roman Josi, Del Zotto and Mattias Ekholm on the left. Klein's presence meant Jones had to play on his non-native left side.

Plus, of course, Del Zotto's sheer skill with the puck: "We're a team that struggles a little bit offensively and a lot of our offense comes from our defense, and I think Del Zotto will be another piece that helps us in that area," Poile said, adding that he believes the Preds (4-4-2 in their last 10) can make a push for a wild-card berth. They're currently eight points out.

As for the Rangers, they moved a player they clearly had lost faith in and had attempted to trade for months. Getting a right-handed defenseman in return was an obvious priority, since Dan Girardi and Anton Stralman are the only current fits on the roster and can become free agents in the summer. The Rangers want to keep them around, but they're both going to make a lot of money, and New York has a not-lot of salary cap space to play with.

Now, New York has lefty-righty splits for all three pairs: Ryan McDonagh-Girardi, Marc Staal-Stralman and John Moore-Klein.

Klein is 29, signed for four more years at $2.9 million and, at his core, a third-pairing, penalty-killing defenseman who's on the ice for a ton of even-strength shot attempts. He's paid like a second-pairing guy though and, depending on what happens with Girardi and Stralman, could be forced out of his depth on the ice, as well.

Sather did say that the trade was in the works for a while, and that Vigneault's experience coaching against Klein with the Vancouver Canucks helped grease the wheels.

“He’s smart, the coaches know him from the teams they’ve been coaching before,” Sather said. “So they know what they’re getting, they know who he is, they know how he plays. They’re quite comfortable with him.”